On March 2, over 30 people from around Ontario met at the lovely Ontario Heritage Trust building in downtown Toronto to talk about Health in All Policies.
Karen Loney from Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit was our MC for the day, moving the group through introductory presentations by Andrea Bodkin (HC Link Coordinator), who talked about the HC Link Policy Learning Community, and Kim Bergeron (Public Health Ontario), who gave an introduction to the Health in all Policies concept.
Presentations on specific Health in All Policies work followed. Tanya Hill from Hastings & Prince Edward Counties Health Unit, Karen Loney, Andrea Bodkin gave examples of work from different areas and discussed the challenges inherent in developing policies that affect health but that are outside the traditional bounds of what people think of as “health” — urban planning, for example.
Small-group and then large-group discussions gave participants a chance to discuss how they are using, or could use, Health in All Policies in their work.
As always, there were discussions about language. Are there better words to use than “health”? Does “wellness” perhaps make it clearer that we’re talking beyond the health-care system? Is using “citizen” exclusionary in policy development work? While it can be a strong reminder to politicians about where their support is found, the group suggested “residents” or just plain “people” as more inclusive options.
In the afternoon Kim Bergeron, Lorna McCue (Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition/HC Link), and michael kerr (Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change) presented tools and resources they found helpful.
The last session was a short focus group session on the HC Link Policy Learning Community now and in future.
To end the day, attendees each offered a one-word summary of their thoughts. A few of these reflective words:
- engagement
- collaboration
- rural
- complexity
- language
- multi-sectoral collaboration
- reframing
- opportunities
- challenges
The slides and other resources have now been posted on the HC Link Policy Learning Community discussion group – see here Additional resources are posted as replies to the initial “Health in All Policies Forum Resources” discussion forum, so keep scrolling down to see everything.
Thanks to all attendees for their insight and enthusiasm!
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